Once upon a time when TAG was dominating:
Jerome David was 18 years old when he made his first jump on a July day of 1984 in Luc, a town in the southern countryside of France. It was a jump that would soon change his whole life. And it happened by coincidence when a friend from school told him during one of their classes that he would go skydiving. From here on, they never ever talked about anything else in class.

While living in Nice, where he was studying the law and was jumping on the weekends at Luc’s skydiving centre, David advanced very rapidly through the skydiving classes. When he was done with his static line jumps, he fell in love with freefall, which was a true revelation for him. His life changed completely when he came to understand that this was the life he had been longing for. He felt that his life would now take place at a skydiving centre and that he was headed to become a freefall world champion one day.

The trophy of the World Championship in Formation Skydiving, Excalibur, is a symbol of the perfect flight. Jerome David grew up as a skydiver when the French TAG team dominated the 4-way world with Frank Mahut, Philippe Schorno, Jerome Bunker and Eric Fradet, his idols.

1986 - 1989: Team RCA
Right after he got all his skydiving licences, David built his first 4-way team together with his best friend, Francis David. The team name was RCA (Relatif Cote d’Azur). To finance the team, they founded a skydiving club and looked for sponsors. Little by little, this adventure took shape. The team began training every other weekend. The rest of the week, David continued to study in school and worked to make money for the training. In 1986, he attended his first French national championship and had a wonderful experience. His team won the junior event. But even more important was his experience of exploring the exciting world of skydiving competition.

David realized that the world of Formation Skydiving competition is more than just a simple sport. It is a fascinating and very special lifestyle, totally focused and dedicatedto skydiving performance. David and his friends gave up their traditional life style to go and live on the drop zone of Avignon-Pujaut in the south of France. RCA became much more than a team, it was a family. The members made a living out of teaching freefall, making pictures and videos in freefall. Their financial means were very limited, but they admired the TAG team and managed to program some training.

It was a time of lean cows. The year was 1989; the TAG team had won their second consecutive World Championship with 20 points ahead. RCA finished 16th at the 1988 World Cup in Vichy, then 3rd at the French National Championship in 1989, right behind the girls of the Coca-Cola team and the TAG team. David now caught the attention of the TAG team who had been watching him for some time. They knew that David was a leader in his group where he took a lot of responsibilities upon himself. When Frank Mahut and Jerome Bunker decided to put a stop to their career, Jerome David and Patrick Saget were called upon by Philippe Schorno and Eric Fradet to boost up their team. Jerome found himself propelled into the TAG team.

1990 - 1991: France Essonne
When David first grabbed the grips of his partners in the turquoise skies of Castellon in January 1990, a dream became true for him. After a few jumps, he overshoots the average of the RCA by 10 points, with scores reaching 21 points in freefall. After 400 jumps, the new team PUC-TAG achieves the same score as that of the World Championship in 1989. The machine is on its way, the confidence of the young members like Patrick Saget and Jerome David easily blends in with the expertise of the veterans Eric Fradet and Philippe Schorno.

During the winter of 1991, after winning the 1990 World Cup in Gap in front of the Golden Knights (with Scott Rhodes, Craig Girard and Jack Jefferies), the team got yet one step further by gaining the sponsor Essonne. At the same time, in the United States the Deland Gang with Tom Piras and Jack Jefferies got ready for a tough fight with the new French team. The U.S. teams had been world champions in 1985, the French teams in 1987 and 1989.

The duel in Lucenec, Tchecoslovakia, would be a beautiful one. France and USA are to each other’s elbow, the rounds are tight and the pressure is extraordinary. During the competition, David had to perform the so-called leg-locks in rounds five and seven, which were part of the dive pool by then. This maneuver was his specialty in the team. After nine rounds, France-Essonne was two points ahead of the U.S. team. The sequence of the last jump was a fast one. Needless to say that the atmosphere at the loading area of the MI-8 helicopter was quite hot. Everything would be won or lost in this last round. The Americans went first and beat the world record with 22 points. A minute later, the French team scored 23 points and landed in the middle of a large crowd, hearts full of emotion and eyes full of tears.

France realized the triple gold medal series 1987-1989-1991, winning the competition in Lucenec with a three-point lead. The French team and the U.S. team congratulate each other with tremendous respect. David was only 24 years old by then, and it became the most beautiful day of his life. He could not help thinking of all the years spent with his friends of the RCA dreaming of the supreme title.

During the small celebration that followed the victory, U.S. veteran Dan BC came to warmly congratulate David. They drank beer and shared their passion for Excalibur. BC had always dreamt of the same thing: to win Excalibur one day. He thought that it was his turn now. The friends separated with a brotherly handshake and knew that their paths would cross again one day. However, for the time being, David and his teammates were on a roll for another two years. The victory felt just too good to stop right there.

1992 - 1993: France Essonne
During the preparation for the 1993 World Championship, David alternated training with studies to become a sports professor. To continue and achieve all of his dreams, David knew that it was necessary to prepare for the future. Skydiving was still not a sport that offered a social status. In 1992, France won the next World Cup on home turf in Gap 16 points ahead of DeLand Vertical Speed with Jack Jefferies. It was an era of absolute dominance for France-Essonne who again beat the world record with 26 points

Durting these years, David and his teammates revolutionized Formation Skydiving competition with new techniques. Thanks to the introduction of judging by air-to-air video, it became possible to fly nearer and to build and break formations quicker.

The French team invented the vertical techniques and "cheated" the shape of formations. Between 1990 and 1993, they increased the scoring average from 15.0 to 19.5 points. Their goal was not only to defend their title at the World Championship in 1993 in Eloy. David's team also wanted to be the first team in history to cross the mythical bar of the 20-point average.

In Eloy, France had to compete against a U.S. team with Jack Jefferies and Kirk Verner and won their fourth consecutive gold medal with a seven-point lead. The victory jump took place on October 29th, the day Jerome David turned 26 years old. His teammates, Philippe Schorno first, had a wonderful surprise in store for him: they presented him Excalibur in a big gift package. Emotion were running deep again. This was also a magnificent apotheosis for Philippe Schorno, the brilliant leader of the French team since 1990.

However, the magic bar of the 20-point average had still not been attained when France-Essonne won with only 19.5 points in Eloy. Later in Soulac, during a French Cup competition, the team just missed this bar again with a bad round nine and a 19.7 meet average. Now, Philippe Schorno and Patrick Saget withdrew from international competition. At the same time, David for his part completed successfully his sports professorship.

1994 - 1995: Nightmare in France
Early in 1994, the Federation Francaise De Parachutisme (FFP) promoted Jerome David as the national coach, and David took the helm now leading the French 4-way team. With his good friend Eric Fradet, he called in two new young partners, Claude Tzifkansky and Paul Grisoni. The team resumed their activities at a very low level (13-point average), while in the United States the newly formed Arizona Airspeed, a joint venture of veteran competitors from DeLand Vertical Speed (Jack Jefferies, Kirk Verner) and Air Moves (Dan BC, Mark Kirkby) planned the new attack on the French dominance. It was very serious since Airspeed would begin at a 19-point average level. David remembered his conversation with Dan BC in 1991. BC’s destiny would now get closer to David's.

The French team worked very hard. But they lost at the 1994 World Cup. And they were defeated again at the World Championship in 1995 on home turf in Gap, even though Frank Mahut re-joined the team. Dan BC had kept his promise, and Jack Jefferies was finally rewarded for his long perseverance. David was crushed for he had just lost the title of which he used to be the custodian.

It was a poor consolation that for the first time in history, two rival teams had crossed together the magic 20-point average benchmark. France-Essonne scored a 20.5 meet average, Airspeed finished with 20.7 points. The French drama got even worse when the French 8-way team of Didier Boignon also lost to the Golden Knights at the same world meet in France.

1996 - 1997: Rebuilding
Disappointed with these results, David was also unhappy with the general climate that characterized the spirit of the two French teams during these two years of preparation. David's spirit of love, respect and family atmosphere between the French national teams was simply absent. The groups were aging and did not work well any longer. Since David was competitor, technical leader and national coach at the same time, he saw how difficult it would be to undertake vast reforms while continuing to jump with the 4-way team.

David was at a crucial time in his career. The satisfaction of team management was taking over the desire of competing. He began dreaming of achieving a coaching career as successful as the one of a competitor that he still was at heart. David dreamt of building a great French team, great by its achievements as well as by its team spirit. With Philippe Schorno, whom he then selected as the coach for the 8-way team France-Essonne, David launched a new policy how to select the young competitors for the national teams. He chose a young team that had attracted people’s attention in France for the last two years on the national circuit: the team from Maubeuge.

David saw the same glimmer in Maubeuge's team members' eyes (Martial Ferre, Thierry Boitieux, Marin Ferre and Davide Moy) that had been in his own eyes when he lived in the trailers of his first training place in Avignon-Pujaut. David believes that the quest for Excalibur has always been a tribal adventure. It is a gift of oneself to the teammates with many sacrifices. The new journey would be a long one for the Maubeuge members since they averaged only 15.5 points at that time.

These years were unquestionably the ones of Airspeed's supremacy. After a second place at the World Cup in 1996, the new Maubeuge team competed very seriously with Airspeed in Turkey during the 1997 World Championship. However, they still fell short by four points and Excalibur went back to the U.S.A. Being very close to his young team members, David filled in for the second round when David Moy dislocated his shoulder during the first round.

This was a surprising comeback in the big arena and David was still right on top of the team performance. France-Maubeuge almost made it when the scores were still equal after eight rounds. However, in rounds nine and ten, Airspeed played a big game and became irresistible. Maubeuge was extremely disappointed, and David had to think of further innovations to motivate the team again until 1999. He now set up a custom made strategic project for Maubeuge. He also negotiated a very promising partnership with Skydive Perris in California, for he felt that it was a place that radiated positive energy.

1998 - 1999 France Perris-Maubeuge
During the next two years, France Perris-Maubeuge trained with ambition. But the team still had to deal with David Moy’s shoulder injury. During the 1998 World Cup in Portugal, David had to replace Moy again, and the team had to bow down after a tie-breaking jump facing the U.S. team FX. However, this phase of the team progression allowed Jerome to define two new strategic axes that would prove important for the future. One was “smoothing??? the blocks to raise speed. All the techniques of the group were modified and the tenths of seconds fell block after block. Next, David set up a specific program of mental preparation, which would allow the team members to sustain stress in all situations. And it also helped little by little to integrate the certainty that Airspeed could be defeated.

A few months later, in February 1999, Perris France-Maubeuge succeeded for the first time to beat Airspeed in Eloy at the Valentine’s Meet. This was the first step towards the gold medal at the 1999 World Championship in Corowa, Australia, where the French team confirmed their strength by winning with a six-point lead. David now had his revenge on Dan BC. On the podium, the reunion with Excalibur was accompanied by the motto: “The sword is back home??? on the blue-white-red French flag. Like the fate's wink of an eye, it happened again on the 29th of October with David celebrating his 33rd birthday. He had just accomplished his second dream: bringing back Excalibur as a coach. He would now need some time to assimilate the latest success. However, competition is a process that never ends. And while he could have turned the page, David again wanted more. There was still a lot of work to do in order to build the French team of his dreams.

2000 - 2001: Transition
Martial Ferre and Thierry Boitieux now decided to put a stop to their career for a professional move. Coach Jerome David decided to replace them with Julian Losantos and Erwan Pouliquen. Losantos and Pouliquen were no newcomers. David had already worked with them for several years. Successively members of the French farm team and then of the national 8-way team, David decided to integrate them into the 4-way team since they got along great with David and Marin. The French 4-way team went back to work, Airspeed and the Norgies would be tough challengers. Next, David began rebuilding a transitional 8-way team with veterans.

His strategy was to insure a podium of eight top competitors on the basis of minimal training in order to prepare a group of young people between 16 and 24 years. To learn competitve 8-way, of which he was now in charge as well, Jerome placed himself as a competitor within the group. The simultaneous training of the 4-way team, the 8-way team and the farm team gave him a very heavy workload. David used all his energies for a completely re-defined training system in France. He reinforced the synergy between the groups, reorganized the management in a pyramid system where each competitor is an energy relay for the others.

Despite the very serious training and re-defined  flying techniques, the 4-way team Perris-Maubeuge only placed second at the 2000 World Cup, and lost the gold medal by two points to the new Airspeed Vertical team at the 2001 World Championship in Spain. The French 8-way won the bronze medal with only 200 training jumps. However, for the French teams, Spain was a bad nightmare that needed to be forgotten quickly. Luck had not been on the French side in Spain

Two months later, Erwan Pouliquen injured his ankle. And again David had to step in and take his place competing for the French colors at the World Games in Akita, Japan. After 19 training jumps, the team scored a 20.0 meet average and placed third behind Airspeed and the Norgies. This was one of the best memories for David, even though it was his first and only bronze medal in a 4-way competition. After three years without any 4-way training, David still kept up with the pace in Japan. And he still believed in his new strategy, as well. Even if France would finish the 2001 season with an average success report, David would not alter his plans. He knew that the groundwork would soon pay back.

2002 - 2003: UItimate Challenge
A new idea grew in David’s dreams when he noticed that all his former teammates and older athletes were still dreaming of competing. All had the same goal in common: winning the 8-way for the first time and also crossing the two swords for the first time. The 2003 World Championship would take place on home turf in Gap. It could be a beautiful revenge for the last French mishap on their home turf in 1995. All candidates for the project also wanted to accomplish the ultimate success: winning the double. David finally decided to have the farm team wait another two years while continuing his work with them. To pursue the new goal of the double gold in 2003, he gathered a very experienced 4-way/8-way group.

Around David Moy, Erwan Pouliquen, Julian Losantos and Marin Ferre he selected Polo Grisoni, Martial Ferre, Eddy Ben and Manu Sarrazin. Winning the 2003 World Championship in both events with this group might be considered impossible. However, David could not pass on this exciting challenge. He believes in his good star, the very one that allowed him to win twice on his birthday. He now wants to plant both swords in the middle of his garden for the anniversary of his ten years as the national coach.

Meanwhile, David has mastered all the procedures related to his work as a coach. He delegates the techniques to the athletes in order to just be “the outside eye???, which frees some of his time for his family. That allows him also to focus more efficiently on all the management tasks that his position requires, including selection of the groups, logistics, sponsorships, planning, overall coordination, stewardship, financial management, communication, international representation, social follow-up, management of the equipment, regulations and organization of the competitions, co-management of the training center in Maubeuge, mental training, etc.

David's daily tasks are much varied. His passion has been to contribute day after day to the improvement of the system, to the evolution of the training conditions and always more performance. He has also been very close to his athletes since friendly relationships are essential for him. Behind the euphoria of victories and the experience of losses, David has come to understand that the true quest for Excalibur is not so much the victory itself. It is more the strong human adventure that it represents.